Najibullah Zadran tore into the opposition attack with six sixes to lead Afghanistan into the Asia Cup Super Four stage with a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh on Tuesday.
Chasing 128 for victory, Afghanistan were in trouble at 62-3 when Najibullah (43 not out) joined Ibrahim Zadran (42 not out) for an unbeaten stand of 69 as they won with nine balls to spare in Sharjah.
Spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan took three wickets each to set up the victory as Afghanistan restricted their opponents to 127-7 after Bangladesh elected to bat first.
Afghanistan, led by Mohammad Nabi, registered their second straight victory to become the first of the six teams to reach the next phase of the competition, which acts as a tune-up to the T20 World Cup in October-November.
Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 11 when skipper Shakib Al Hasan, playing his 100th T20 international, had the opener stumped with his left-arm spin. Mosaddek Hossain dismissed Hazratullah Zazai for 23 as Afghanistan seemed to lose control of their chase with runs hard to come by.
Nabi departed in the 13th over and the Bangladesh supporters, who clearly outnumbered the Afghans, raised the roof. But the left-handed Najibullah timed the chase to perfection as he finished with a flurry of sixes and one four in his 17-ball blitz.
Earlier, Mujeeb shared the new ball with Fazalhaq Farooqi and struck in each of his first three overs. Rashid joined forces with Mujeeb after the power play to send back wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, trapped lbw for one. Mushfiqur failed to pick a superb Rashid googly which the umpire gave not out, only for Afghanistan to successfully review the decision in their favour.
Rashid struck again and cut short Mahmudullah’s stay on 25 as the batsman top-edged a shot to deep mid-wicket.
Mosaddek Hossain then took on the bowlers to smash four boundaries and a six in his late blitz of 48, but Afghanistan finished the innings by conceding just seven runs in a final over.
